Random Tater Pic of the Day #282

This is Cabanas lunch from our June 2017 Disney Cruise on board the Dream. These steak fries were labeled as "steak frites," but were decidedly not that at all, still very very yummy though.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #176

These steak frites are from the Lucky Bones Backwater Grille in Cape May over the Thanksgiving weekend. This might have been my GAR! Podcast partner Ray's Thanksgiving dinner, but they saved this for Saturday night. Some folks are living the life, eh?

Random Tater Pic of the Day #163

These steak frites were the special at Toscana in Cherry Hill a few weeks back. The Bride and I were going to go but family stuff kept us otherwise busy. We will get there soon though.

Added bonus, Gigio Longo of Toscana Cherry Hill also has a very cool comic out called Adam 12 that you should all check out. Fries and comics, always a good match.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #130

Recently on Twitter when I good-naturedly teased friend, fellow writer, and occasional French Fry Diary contributor Sarah Hawkins-Miduski for going to a French restaurant and not getting French fries, she sent me this.

Nice, I guess that makes up for it. ;-)

The question still remains, why don't French restaurants ever have French fries?

French Fry Diary 535: Steak Frites, Royal Court, Disney Fantasy

I was hoping to get another taste of those terrific steak fries that I had gotten at the Royal Court the other day on board the Disney Fantasy, but it didn't quite work out. The menu changed. The burger (gluten-free) was still there, but so was steak frites, so I opted for the new choice rather than the old reliable.

As always the service is incredible, and if I had any problems or concerns, I am sure they could have been remedied, but let's just suffice to say I didn't get my steak fries. They might have been out of them as I didn't see anyone else with them either. Still what I got was very good.

The steak frites was a wonderfully succulent strip of grilled steak with a garlic butter, served with natural cut French fries. Now these fries were the same I have dissed before when talking about Disney before, not bad, but not spectacular either, but soaked in the juice of the steak and the garlic butter, they were very, very good. A wonderful lunch meal, Disney scores again.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #85

For today's Somebody Else's Fries we have these terrific Steak Frites from Parc Brasserie on Rittenhouse Square over in Philadelphia. Sadly, I have forgotten who sent this one to me. Anyone want to take credit?

French Fry Diary 327: Chopped: "Frozen Fries With That?"

For Food Network Friday, I have something special today. The Bride and I love the Food Network show "Chopped." After being turned on to it by my friend Ray, we became quick fans, tuning in every Tuesday night at ten in the PM to see four chefs compete to make the best dishes from mystery ingredients in a limited amount of time. It's a hoot hosted by chef Ted Allen.

This past week, one of the mystery ingredients was a favorite of French Fry Diary - frozen grocery fries in an episode called "Frozen Fries With That?". Yeah, baby.

The four competitors were actually of extra interest this time out as two were from restaurants that I have gotten as French fry recommendations, and also one of the chefs had worked for one of the others in the past, so it was a bit of a grudge match going on. There is always fierce but friendly competition on "Chopped," but this episode was more charged than usual.

Competing this time were Chef Ian Friedman of the Rainwater Grill in New York City, Chef Adrienne Grenier of 1500 Degrees in Miami Beach, Chef Clark Barlowe of the Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville Maryland, and Clark's former employer, Chef Dan Giusti of the 1789 Restaurant in Washington DC. A juicy grudge match of employer and employee, young and old, that promises to rock the house. The judges this episode include Maneet Chauhan, Amanda Freitag, and Chris Santos.

The favorite fried food, in the form of Frozen French Fries, was introduced in the appetizer round, along with three other mystery ingredients - Cube Steak, Salsa, and Queso Fresco. Truly it was a challenge masked in simplicity. That said, I am quite stunned by how little was done by the competitors with the fries - after all originality is one of the marks of the contest.

Chef Dan decides to make Steak Frites, deep frying the French fries and seasoning them with southwester spices and scallions, chives, and lime zest. Seriously, just deep frying the fries? Wow.

Chef Clark attempts a Chimichurri Steak & Fries. He is frying his fries in a pan, but he is also julienning some purple potatoes to join them for a little color and taste difference, nice.

Chef Ian is kinda arrogant, stating that he is above the ingredients. Great, another fry snob. He makes Marinated Steak with Two Salsas, 'truffling' his fries. He also added some wacky mustard to his salsa... ewww...

Chef Adrienne is the only one who is even slightly original, insisting that just making fries is too obvious. She chops them up into a hash with peppers and onions, to go with her Steak & Eggs. Rock on, Adrienne.

I'll leave it up to you to decide who got chopped in this round, and in the entrée and dessert rounds, as well as who wins the whole fry bag... just as I'll leave it up to you to watch this episode when it comes around in reruns. It's a great show, made even better by the presence of the favorite fried food. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 234: Mon Ami Gabi, Las Vegas

Today's Somebody Else's Fries comes from the Bro-in-Law who recently went to Las Vegas on business.

He took this picture of his steak frites at the impressive Mon Ami Gabi restaurant at the Paris Hotel. He pronounced these fries as "Amazing!"

French Fry Diary 169: Triton's, Lunch, Disney Wonder

Lunch on board the Disney Magic, at Triton's twin, Lumiere's, was always marked by a terrific burger and some of the best fries around, so I was psyched to try the same at Triton's aboard the Wonder. After breakfast of Day Two (I know, the absolute last time I should be thinking about food) I passed the lunch menu for Triton's and saw the half-pound Angus burger with French fries, and I knew I would be back later.

And I was. Just not for the burger. When I came back and glanced at the menu my eyes were drawn immediately to something else - steak frites. Yeah, I hadda have some of that. I can come back for the burger. When in a fancy restaurant, go fancy, so I did.

The steak was very good, a bit tough, but that's my own fault for asking for very well done. I also got a grilled tomato, not my bag, and also, yeah, there were fries too. These were very tender natural regular cuts, good portion, and not crispy. Not crispy, but neither were they soggy or greasy. Their soft hot consistency actually seemed an excellent match for the steak.

Interesting side note - I was chatting with a fellow passenger while at that first lunch, who happened to be a chef himself. Being me, I talked about the French fries, and how I thought it was odd that I ordered 'steak frites' and yet did not get steak fries. He said that just because they are called something that doesn't mean that's what they are for. He further said the fries I got were appropriate to the meal I got. Ooookay.

I am reminded about what Freud supposedly said, "Sometimes a train is just a train." I guess the same goes for steak fries. Hey, at least they were good.